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His mother's last wish was that his siblings look after him, by which time the year-old had already enrolled in the local seminary, St Vincent's. An ordinary student, Sin's poor health almost prevented him from fulfilling his calling. Laid up in a hospital bed in , he made a pact with himself that if he suffered another asthma attack before the next feast day, he would take it as a sign that God did not require his services. Six months later, aged 25, he was ordained; he never suffered another attack.

Cardinal Sin | Definition of Cardinal Sin by Merriam-Webster

After three years as a missionary, Sin became first rector of the St Pius X Seminary in Roxas City , before going to Jaro as auxiliary, and later full, bishop. His appointment as Catholic archbishop of Manila in caused quite a stir; he was, he said, a "small town boy lost in the big city". Although the Philippines had been under martial law since , the young prelate decided not to judge the regime's exercise in "constitutional authoritarianism". But the honeymoon was short. Within six months, Sin was criticising the authorities after the military raided a Manila seminary on the grounds that it was harbouring insurgents.

Official church policy became one of "critical collaboration".


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Sin, who, at 47, became the third ever Filipino cardinal in , always felt that Marcos was a man he could negotiate with. He had less time for the dictator's wife Imelda, whose grandiose civic projects appalled him. Imelda retorted that the cardinal was "a communist homosexual".

cardinal sin

As reports of the Marcos regime's excesses began to leak out, Sin became increasingly vocal in his criticism. He held regular press conferences to brief the international media, and, as martial law dragged into a second decade, he wondered whether "it is possible we are becoming a nation of sheep". His answer came after the assassination of the opposition leader and former senator, Benigno Aquino, by Marcos's henchmen in A stunned public was horrified at the crudeness of the killing - Aquino was gunned down before he even got off the plane on his return from exile - and an exasperated Sin called on the people to take to the "parliament of the streets".

When it became obvious that the snap presidential elections in February were marred by massive fraud, Sin issued a pastoral letter denouncing the result. He also arranged for vote counters, who had walked out in protest, to hide themselves in a safe house away from Marcos's secret police. Days later, officers once loyal to Marcos rebelled and holed themselves up inside military headquarters.

A band of rebels faced , Marcos troops. One of their leaders, the former defence minister Juan Ponce Enrile, rang Sin to plead for help, adding that he would be dead in less than an hour.

Mortal sin

After much prayer - and despite Vatican opposition - Sin went on the Catholic radio station that evening to ask the people to take to the streets in support of the rebels. Nuns placed their rosaries in front of tanks and people put flowers down the barrels of the soldiers' guns. More than 2m Manilans faced down the military for three days until news spread that Marcos had fled to Hawaii.

Not a single shot was fired; Sin called it a miracle. Please tell us where you read or heard it including the quote, if possible.

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